Countdown Comforts
by lowi
Summary: Eleven years. Eleven New Year's Eves. Eleven couples. The countdown has begun. /x-mas present for Aimy Ch 1: JamesLily Ch 2: JamesiiOC Ch 3: RoxanneScorpius Ch 4: RemusTonks Ch5: HugoOC Ch 6: LilyiiOC Ch 7: SiriusMarlene
1. Chapter 1 JamesLily

_A/N: Written for Aimy (lonely hands). Merry Christmas, Aimy, I hope you'll have a wonderful holiday!_

_Also written for The Happy New Year Competition at HPFC - this is going to be a collection of drabbles, all about New Year's Eve. (And, Aimy, all will be for you!) _

_And thanks to mew-tsubaki for betareading!_

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**1. "TEN!" - JamesLily**

December 31st, 1980.

"James, James, come quickly!" Lily burst into the bedroom but halted when James hushed her.

"He's finally asleep now," James whispered. His hand was stroking their son's cheek slowly, and he wasn't lifting his eyes to meet Lily's.

Lily smiled and walked over to James, who lay on the bed with his other hand's fingers being clutched by Harry's small ones.

"What did you want?" James asked after Lily had sat down next to him and rested her head against his shoulder.

She looked at Harry who breathed steadily with fluttering eyelids and the corner of his mouth twisting. She turned to look at James instead who had bags underneath his shining eyes. "The countdown starts soon, but never mind," Lily answered with a tiny smile, and James grinned a bit and pulled her closer to him.

They fell asleep there, with their son, and didn't hear Sirius shouting "TEN!" so loud in the living room that Remus had to smack him. A new year didn't matter so much when they were together.


	2. Chapter 2 JamesiiOC

**2. "…nine." - JamesiiOC [Alice]**

December 31st, 2017.

Alice smiled at him after setting off another firework. It exploded in the sky like a colorful rain and James' stomach jolted when she took his hand. Of course, that was because they were in the Astronomy Tower, leaning out over the height, not because her skin made electrifying dazzles rage through his body.

Of course not.

"It's not even twelve o'clock, yet," James said under his breath.

She shook her head, and in that moment James knew that he had lost his best friend forever. He couldn't keep doing this denying, he couldn't fight it anymore.

He loved Alice Longbottom.

She looked at her clock. "…nine," she started to count, but James hushed her.

"I'm going to kiss you now," he said. And he did.


	3. Chapter 3 RoxanneScorpius

**3.**"**EIGHT!" - RoxanneScorpius**

December 31st, 2020.

Roxanne's arm hanged around his shoulder and every time she threw her head back and laughed, her long tangles tickled him on his neck.

Though it wasn't that usual tickle, the one that causes squirms and laughs madly until a person grows so tired of it that turning to anger is the only option. It was of that stroking, soft, teasing type. The kind that makes goose bumps cover one's arms and one's body shiver in anticipation.

Or maybe it was all because it was _Roxanne_'s hair.

She bumped her hip into Scorpius and pointed at one of the fireworks and in that very moment Scorpius knew she had never seen him as anything but a friend, or even a younger brother.

But well, soon it was a new year and if he was to decide, that _all_ was going to change.

"EIGHT!" she suddenly shouted with a giggle in her throat, and Scorpius nodded mentally. It was going to change.


	4. Chapter 4 RemusTonks

**4. "Seven!"— RemusTonks**

December 31st, 1997.

"Remus?" She walked into the room where he was sitting, staring into the crackling flames and breathing slowly. "C'mon, let's watch the fireworks."

She had walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders, and now, when he didn't answer her, she squeezed them. "Remus?"

"Sorry, I'm coming." He rose from the chair and grabbed her hand. They walked out onto the small balcony, an ice-cold wind hitting them.

"What were you thinking of?" she asked just as someone in the opposite building stumbled out on his balcony, yelling "Seven!" drunkenly.

"How different all this is going to be," he answered with a smile.

"In a good way," she filled in, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.


	5. Chapter 5 HugoOC

**5. "—six—"—HugoOC [Tim]**

December 31st, 2028.

Hugo's hands were shaking, so he gripped tighter around the rail. It was cold against his too warm fingers. He really couldn't do this; he regretted it, so much.

But he had had a whole year to do it, and now it was only a couple of seconds left, and he couldn't dodge a resolution—that wasn't okay, as simple as that.

He took a deep breath and tuned in when Tim suddenly put a hand on his, as if to wake him up. "Six, Hugo!" he said with a glance on his watch and Hugo kissed him.

They didn't hear the fireworks, they didn't see them exploding, they didn't feel the coldness.

Because Hugo had finally fulfilled his resolution and now he only wanted to listen to Tim breathing his name against his neck, see the explosions on the insides of his eyelids, feel Tim's lips against his.

He had made it, just in time.


	6. Chapter 6 LilyiiOC

**6. "—five—"—LilyiiOC [Jack]**

December 31st, 2033.

They are standing in the kitchen and Lily can hear the others yelling for them but in this moment there is no one but Jack, Jack, Jack.

He hasn't looked up at her, he is looking at the floor so hard she thinks it will catch fire, and her hands are shaking like mad. What if he'll say no? Lily has never been this nervous before and, Merlin, she thinks she has to throw up.

But then, then he looks up, and gosh, there are tears in his eyes, and…

"Yes!" he yells and at the exact same moment Dominique pokes her head in and says, "Guys, five!" but her eyes widen and she giggles and retreats quickly, and Lily is hugged so hard by Jack she thinks she is going to explode.

They sink down on the floor, still hugging, and Jack is still crying, and Lily has never been happier, because Jack said yes.

Jack said yes.

They are getting married.


	7. Chapter 7 SiriusMarlene

**7. "Four!"—SiriusMarlene**

December 31st, 1979.

It was quite different, unusual in that sense that he hadn't noticed that it had been missing, this feeling that now was bubbling up inside of him. Happiness.

Or maybe it was relief.

All that he hadn't been able to let out during the year, because it was all so fragile; all that he had feared would backfire on them—it could all, if for only one night, be released.

Sirius was Happy, with a capital h, and he had a right to be so.

That was at least what he told himself. That he was allowed to forget what was going on, if for just a few more hours, allowed to ignore Remus' absence, ignore the feeling that everything felt as though it would burst at any second if he and the others didn't return soon.

So he smiled. Marlene stepped up to him, and he could see in her eyes that it was just a façade, and he knew she felt _exactly_ like him. They grabbed each other's hands, and Marlene kissed Sirius on his cheek.

"Four!" someone—probably Benjy—yelled in the background, and when the two of them joined in the countdown, they squeezed each other's hands for Remus' and Gideon's sake, and felt happy.


End file.
